The Roses of Tartarus

by Gakuto Mikumo

  “Do not concern yourself with Kojou Akatsuki’s servants, transfer student. That woman is your opponent.”

  Natsuki spoke to the hesitant Yukina. Without a word, Yukina nodded, putting strength into the hands gripping her spear.

  December raised her eyebrows. Controlling the scarlet bicorn, she commanded it to attack Yukina and Natsuki. However, before she did, a solemn chant was already trickling out from Yukina’s lips.

  “—I, Maiden of the Lion, Sword Shaman of the High God, beseech thee!”

  The surface of the silver spear was enveloped in a multilayered magical circle. It was the glow of the Divine Oscillation Effect that could rend any barrier in existence and nullify demonic energy. This transformed and deployed between them and December—not as a blade, but as a wall.

  “O divine wolf of the snowdrift, let the echoes of thy thousand howls become a shield and repel this calamity!”

  December’s eyes glowed brighter, and a torrent of dense demonic energy flooded into the air. However, Yukina’s wall became a shield of light that wiped the torrent clean.

  “Gah… Agh…!”

  Kojou exhaled in agony. The two materialized Beast Vassals vanished from sight.

  “Senpai…!”

  “It seems the mind control has been broken.”

  Yukina raced to Kojou’s side as Natsuki spoke in an unmoved tone.

  Kojou wiped the sweat off his brow as he asked Natsuki in a broken voice, “What happened with…Takehito…Senga?”

  “Unfortunately, he escaped. The Island Guard is in pursuit, but it is meaningless. He is a decoy.”

  “Decoy?”

  “To draw the Island Guard’s eyes away from the warehouse district here. And the same no doubt goes for your vampire?” Natsuki, sour, glared at December. “I should have realized it sooner.”

  December adorably stuck out her tongue and shot her a smile. “You still wanna do this? We’ve achieved our objective, so I think any further fighting is fruitless.”

  “Achieved…your objective?”

  Kojou felt a chill of fright at December’s odd degree of composure. Did I make some kind of mistake that can never be undone…? he wondered, gripped by worry.

  That instant, the artificial isle swayed with a tremor.

  Kojou and the others were struck by an impact strong enough to leave them unable to stand.

  Flames spouted up, illuminating the night sky. Even the warehouses—previously assumed undamaged—were enveloped by an orange flash of light and blown asunder.

  “The stockpile warehouses are…”

  Kojou looked up, dumbfounded at the sight of the Great Pile’s buildings going up in flames one after another.

  The reason for Takehito Senga appearing in a ruined factory removed from the Great Pile, employing the large-scale ritual known as Stone Sentinels, and why December had used her ability so spectacularly before Kojou and Yukina—they were all decoys, misdirection.

  “A pyrokineticist…is it?”

  Natsuki emotionlessly glanced behind her as she murmured.

  At the center of the warehouse district engulfed by flames was a small-statured individual, wearing cutesy clothing. It was an indigo-haired homunculus teenage boy. The flames spewing from both of his hands were setting the remaining warehouses aflame one by one.

  The hardest thing about using bombs wasn’t using explosives in and of itself. Rather, it was meticulous emplacement and accurately setting them off with the intended timing. If you prepared a good enough detonation device, you didn’t even need explosives—fertilizer or even powdered wheat was enough.

  When investigating and analyzing explosives, the presence of a detonator became a critical lead. Naturally, the Island Guard had no doubt been sweeping inside the food stockpile warehouses for hidden detonation devices.

  However, they had found none. It was a Hyper Adapter with pyrotechnic abilities, not a device, that was the explosive that Tartarus Lapse had furnished.

  “So he’s the real culprit behind the Keystone Gate terror bombing, too? Small wonder the dangerous substances sensors in the underground parking lot were useless. They don’t call you a wrecking crew for nothing. However…”

  Natsuki exhaled in visible admiration. Without fanfare, she shifted the tip of her closed parasol toward December. Golden chains spewed out of thin air, wrapping around December’s entire body.

  “…you cannot escape any longer.”

  Natsuki turned a very frigid gaze toward December. December’s body writhed about but could not break free of Natsuki’s chains. The homunculus boy with pyrotechnic abilities was caught by identical chains.

  For some reason, December, seeing this for herself, smiled sadly.

  “Goodness, it cannot be helped. I had hoped to go without injuring Takehito’s friend, but…”

  Still bound by chains, December turned toward the ear microphone under her helmet and murmured, “Carly, please—”

  Before her words were even finished, Kojou caught glimpse of a flash from very far away.

  Someone was watching them from the top of a building over a thousand meters away.

  “—?!”

  Yukina’s expression froze over as she looked at Natsuki.

  Without a sound, Natsuki’s small body danced in the sky, blown into the air.

  She’s been sniped, Kojou realized. One of December’s comrades, an operative of Tartarus Lapse, had shot Natsuki from such a long distance that even Yukina’s Spirit Sight had been unable to predict it.

  “A…spell round…?!” Natsuki murmured, astonished.

  A thick magical energy wall protecting her entire body had been smashed into transparent fragments, vanishing. The round, instilled with vast magical energy, had penetrated Natsuki’s protective shell.

  “Natsuki?!”

  “Ms. Minamiya!”

  Natsuki’s body rolled on the ground. Kojou’s hands shook as he picked her up. Yukina held out her spear to shield both of them and glared at December.

  The top of Natsuki’s dress was ripped to tatters, leaving Natsuki’s wounded chest exposed to plain view.

  Deep cracks ran across inorganic flesh, reminiscent of a doll’s. In place of blood, what trickled out were fragments of tapered ivory. Natsuki’s body in the world on “that” side was not one of flesh and blood. It was an avatar animated with magical energy.

  However, Natsuki’s body, bearing a deep wound sufficient to kill a normal person instantly, did not budge an inch.

  “Hit confirmed. Prepare next round—”

  December called out to her sniper comrade.

  The golden chains binding her had already slackened, allowing her to fall to the ground. With the caster, Natsuki, no longer conscious, the chains had lost their magical energy.

  “I will ask you again, Kojou Akatsuki. Won’t you join us?”

  December looked down at Kojou. Her question had been voiced frailly, almost like a prayer.

  That instant, the Tartarus Lapse sniper was preparing her rifle. If he refused December’s invitation, the next round would doubtlessly come for Kojou and Yukina.

  Even so, Kojou bluntly shook his head.

  “Why?” December asked, narrowing her eyes forlornly. “If you knew Tartarus Lapse’s objective, I’m sure you’d understand.”

  “I don’t know what your reason is, but I don’t intend to help out a bunch of murderers.”

  “Is that so? How unfortunate…”

  December’s shoulders sank with a sigh. Her lips, meant to give the order to snipe, quivered.

  But before that, Kojou summoned a new Beast Vassal. The enormous body of the servant, swaying like a mirage, swelled up to Kojou’s rear.

  “C’mon over, Natra Cinereus—!”

  “Carly……?!” Heedless, December tried to order the snipe, when her breath caught a little.

  Kojou’s summoned Beast Vassal was a huge, illusion-like, shelled beast that spewed mist from its entire body. The dense mist, infused with demonic energy,
blotted out the sight of Kojou and the others in the blink of an eye.

  Accurate fire was impossible under those conditions no matter how good the sniper was.

  “Ah… A smokescreen of mist… As expected of the boy she chose, I suppose…”

  Sensing Kojou and the others’ presences growing distant, December gave up pursuit with a sunny smile.

  The power of the Beast Vassal of Mist had extinguished the fires in the warehouse district as well. The vast majority of the foodstuffs stockpiled there had surely been already burned away. Tartarus Lapse’s objective had been achieved.

  “We’re pulling out, Logi, Carly. We’re ready for the Roses,” December stated to her comrades.

  For but a single moment, she turned back, gazing at Itogami Island’s nighttime landscape.

  No one was likely to ever see that scenery again. That fact left her feeling just a tiny bit sentimental.

  Nonetheless, their plan would not cease.

  The Roses would awaken—and then no one could halt Itogami City’s destruction.

  CHAPTER THREE

  IN HER SIGHTS

  1

  The morning sun illuminated the sea’s surface, shining upon the hull of a tilting ship.

  Sayaka Kirasaka and Shio Hikawa were sitting on a corner of the deck, each wordlessly gazing out at the sea. Dozens of other ship passengers were also assembled on the deck.

  The combined freight and passenger ship upon which Sayaka and the others were aboard had collided with a freighter right around a full day earlier. It was an unfortunate accident, a combination of the sudden onset of fog, radar trouble, and carelessness by the helmsman.

  Fortunately, no one had been injured, and the hulls had not sustained fatal damage either, but both ships had lost their ability to sail. The internal flooding was pretty bad, too. As a result, the passengers had ended up on top of a tilted deck to spend an anxious night.

  “I brought some freshly made onigiri.”

  Yuiri Haba had come back from the ship’s cafeteria with enough food to feed four. Following behind her with a tottering, unsteady-looking gait was Glenda. She carried a steaming kettle and paper cups for multiple people in both her arms.

  “Ta-daa!”

  “Ah, such a good girl, Glenda. Thank you, too, Yuiri.”

  Shio took the kettle from Glenda and gave her head a gentle pat. Shio somehow gave off an unsociable image, but surprisingly, she was quite attentive to children and her junior student. She was probably the type to fawn over pets when no one was looking.

  “Hey, Kirasaka. Thank Yuiri and Glenda and have a bite.”

  “Th-thank you… Wait, what are you talking so high and mighty for?!”

  Sayaka felt an exasperated twinge as she glared at Shio while taking her ration of food.

  The simple menu consisted of only hand-pressed and pickled food plus smoked mango, but with the situation being what it was, she couldn’t complain.

  The emergency stores aboard the ship probably weren’t that plentiful.

  “They said search and rescue would be coming tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. The emergency stocks of food and drinks will be just enough, it seems.”

  Yuiri poured tea into the paper cups as she conveyed to Sayaka and Shio the information she’d obtained.

  Shio seemed a little surprised. She stopped eating and looked up at Yuiri.

  “Tomorrow afternoon? That’s an awful long time, isn’t it…?”

  “Apparently, there are around thirty other ships unable to sail near here, so search and rescue can’t keep up.”

  “Thirty ships…”

  Shio uttered an “Mm” as she touched her own lips. Shio and Sayaka had confirmed eight other ships adrift, and that was just within their visual range.

  The causes of their going adrift varied: engine trouble, colliding with obstacles, and so forth. All incidents occurred without warning and without any visible trace of sabotage. However, there were just too many incidents to pass them off as mere coincidence. Given the circumstances, maritime trade with Itogami Island had to be pretty much completely paralyzed.

  “You borrowed the ship’s radio, right? Did the Lion King Agency say anything?” Yuiri asked Shio.

  “They said they’re still investigating the cause. But apparently, there’s been assassinations of important people on Itogami Island. The chance of it being sorcerous terrorism is pretty high.”

  The information was vague, but clearly, the Gigafloat Management Corporation and Itogami Island police had fallen into a state of confusion. Thanks to that, apparently even Lion King Agency HQ couldn’t get its hands on precise intel.

  “Sorcerous terrorism, huh…?”

  A worried look came over Yuiri as she turned toward Itogami Island.

  “There’s no way this incident isn’t connected. Should we really be sitting in a place like this?”

  “Right or wrong, if the ship won’t move, there’s not much we can do…”

  Shio gave a frail sigh.

  “What do you think, Kirasaka?”

  “Mm? This smoked mango is really delicious… Is there any more?”

  To Shio, posing the question in a sober tone, Sayaka gave a laid-back reply, acting like she was off somewhere in the sky above. Glenda, likewise stuffing her cheeks with mango, agreed with a “Dah!” and nodded.

  “Who said we were talking about food?!” Shio shouted, unwittingly projecting an antagonistic aura.

  “Ah, yes, yes. This incident is probably someone’s ritual spell attack, right?”

  Sayaka grudgingly lifted her face. Spread atop her knees was an open notebook with methodical handwriting and fine mathematical formulas densely written upon it. As she conducted her calculations, she glanced at a stout military wristwatch and an electric compass for reading precise directions.

  “I think it’s pretty much beyond doubt an Eight Trigrams Formation, but the numbers just don’t add up. Even if you placed the taijitu on Itogami Island, impeding approach to the island, the gate in this part of the sea should be open. But with the location of the Liu Yi, the Six Detachments, in this time zone, that should be impossible, so…” Sayaka exhaled with clear chagrin. “This would be a lot easier if we at least knew the practitioner’s school.”

  Shio stared at the side of her face in what seemed like a daze. “Don’t tell me you plan on breaking the enemy’s ritual from inside? Kirasaka, you’ve been doing the calculations all by yourself…?”

  “Yes, and? I mean, a Shamanic War Dancer of the Lion King Agency caught by an enemy’s spell can’t just sit around and get stomped on, can she?” Sayaka shrugged, speaking like it was no big deal.

  Shamanic War Dancers of the Lion King Agency were specialists in ritual spells and assassination. Naturally, feng shui was among the skills drilled into them. If, in spite of that, she spent two days being a punching bag for an enemy’s attack spell, she’d become a laughingstock.

  “Besides, Kojou Akatsuki and Yukina are on Itogami Island. If we leave it to those two, it’s guaranteed they’ll poke their noses into the incident and do something reckless…”

  Sayaka murmured in a tone infused with a whiff of urgency. The current situation, not being able to go to Yukina’s rescue no matter how much she wanted to, no doubt burned at her.

  Yuiri, who’d been listening in silence, looked sidelong at Shio and said, “…We owe Kojou and Yukii, too, don’t we?”

  She seemed to be urging Shio to cooperate with what Sayaka was doing.

  “Besides, Shio, Kojou’s father is still in the hospital.”

  “G-Gajou Akatsuki has nothing to do with this!”

  “Even though he got hurt protecting you, Shio?”

  “U…gh…!” Shio coughed. When Yuiri pointed out the painful truth, a bit of Shio’s food got stuck in her throat.

  In the incident at Kannawa Lake practically the day before, Kojou Akatsuki’s father had saved her life several times over. In the process, Gajou had been wounded and had been taken to a hospital
on Itogami Island. Naturally, if Itogami Island was the stage for large-scale sorcerous terrorism, he would also be in danger.

  “Hey, maybe the numbers are off because the placement method’s been randomized?” Shio suggested, straightening her posture as she gave Sayaka verbal support.

  Sayaka visibly gasped as she looked at Shio.

  “You mean like the code changing according to the moon-phase correction? I see now… If that’s the case, I have to redo the calculation from the start before even getting into the Qimen Liu Yi.”

  “Well, it’s like Kirasaka said. At this rate, we’ll get dragged down, and the Shamanic War Dancers of the Lion King Agency will lose face. I’ll help, too. See, this is how you calculate it.”

  With that justification as her preamble, Shio moved to Sayaka’s side.

  Even as they openly disputed about every little thing, the two began analyzing the ritual spell attack together. Yuiri gazed at the sight of the pair as she grinned pleasantly. After all, Shio and Sayaka were the two most stellar Shamanic War Dancer candidates of their generation. Nothing was more reassuring in their situation than the two combining their strengths.

  “But assuming we do decipher the Eight Trigrams Formation, what do we do next?” Shio asked while they continued the complex calculations without a pause.

  An Eight Trigrams Formation constructed via feng shui was a proverbial ritual spell labyrinth. Using the energy flows of the Earth, its barriers were stout and complex, but if one could decode the ritual, it wasn’t hard at all to find a way to slip through. The real problem was that they were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

  “From this ritual, I’m imagining a barrier enveloping Itogami Island, the type that changes according to the time of day. Even if we decode the Eight Trigrams Formation and find a way to get to Itogami Island, after a certain amount of time, the formation will change, and the escape route will be cut off. We’ll have to find a way through it somehow before that—”

  “Yeah, that’s the problem.” Sayaka tapered her lips as she twirled a lead pencil around in her hand. “Hmm… I think we could use our authority from the Lion King Agency to commandeer a lifeboat from this ship, but a motorboat isn’t fast enough to make it in time until the next change in the formation’s shape…”